


Cigarettes and Champagne

by ayam692001



Category: Joker Game (Anime)
Genre: Champagne, Comfort, Dancing, Flowers, Friendship, Gen, Literary References & Allusions, M/M, Musical References, Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-20 16:54:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13150944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayam692001/pseuds/ayam692001
Summary: The boys go out at night to sharpen their skills. There are hints of KamiMiyo but very light ones. This is part of the "Joker Game 2k17 Secret Santa" on tumblr, this one for @iriskitten/@chuurine (she wanted Kaminaga, Amari and Tazaki as the friendly trio and didn't mind a bit of Kaminaga/Miyoshi... she also mentioned she wanted flowers to be included so yeah...)





	Cigarettes and Champagne

Disclaimer: I do not own Joker Game or it's characters.

 

Japan, May 1938

  Dance Halls were the best option for those looking to practice their dancing skills, and on occasion a few seduction techniques, and were thus a favourite after hours destination for the men of D Agency. Luckily Japan had a thirst for music and entertainment, making those halls a weekly, sometimes daily event.  
  D's men walked down the street that night blanketed in the warm breeze that carried the sweet scents of flowers and the occasional perfume of a passing lady.  
  "It's a scandal that not half the women around here dance as well as any of us... in the follow position at that." Jitsui whispered seconds after removing his hat to greet an acquaintance across the street, a young unmarried girl he had met on previous parties who seemed to be headed the same direction as them.  
  "Speaking out of personal experience? Have you battled the need of murmuring a piece of advice to your pairs on the dance floor?" Fukumoto joked discretely while lighting a cigarette, being quickly mimicked by half the men in the group.  
  "At times I don't lack the will... had I not been properly raised..." The smaller man added, pulling also a thin cigarette out of the case in his breast pocked and lighting it swiftly.  
  "If it makes you feel better I think you're the best dancer of us all." Hatano said, earning him a raised eyebrow from Amari. "As a follow, that is." He finished stealing the cigarette out of Jitsui's hand before it could touch the man's lips. "Thank you very much, I'll take that." And smiled as the shorter of the group cast him a deadly look, but lighted another one nonetheless  
  The six men approached the hall in quiet conversation. Kaminaga thought of the two who were left behind, Odagiri who was recovering from a shoulder sprain and Miyoshi from a bad cold. It was odd leaving the Agency without the eight of them, personally it made him fell exposed, people around were bound to notice the difference... alas, little could be done about it.  
  The venue was one of the largest available in town, with a particularly tall ceiling and large French-style windows along the wall that gave access to the inner garden, and a massive dance floor at the centre. The decoration was tasteful yet simple, almost bordering on the modest. At each side of the entrance door stood a floral arrangement with white, pink and red carnations, the table and chairs that were placed in a single line along the walls of the dance floor were golden, to match the ceiling lights, the table cloths where white, each topped with a small arrangement, similar to the ones at the entrance, white lace curtains had been placed on the windows. Taking a general view Kaminaga thought it looked a bit understated for the size of the venue.  
  No sooner had they entered and Hatano and Jitsui left in the direction of the dance floor with the excuse of wanting to get the freshest meat available in the market. Fukumoto wrinkled his nose at the expression but left after them, reaching the centre with a pair in hand barely on time before the next piece started.  
  Kaminaga, Amari and Tazaki waited for the next one, taking the time to read the atmosphere of the room. Easily a few hundred people filled the hall, over half of those females, most in their twenties, a few in their thirties and barely two digits over the forties. Tazaki selected a young blond, the daughter of an ambassador, and asked her to dance as soon as the musicians switched.  
  "Damn that boy, he has a great eye for the expensive sparrows!" Amari cursed the second their sharp-eyed colleague and his pair were in position.  
  "Tomorrow he'll say he didn't really take notice, but she is quite the catch!" Kaminaga commented low as he bowed closer to his friend hear. "If ever Tazaki fails at the Agency he can always hope for a solid marriage." he laughed as Amari, even if amused, pressed an elbow to his side in a useless reminder of what they weren't to speak of.  
  "I suppose it's my turn now!" The ladies man announced, as the sister of the local newspaper editor smiled at him. "I'll see you in a few." He waived and was gone.  
  Smiling, Kaminaga waited two more dances to join his brothers as his pair arrived, an elegant widow, a woman of 62 with no children, who's family owned a silk dyeing business. He approached her cordially, aware that she had been approached by many others before him and knowing that many more were to follow. The young man bowed, extending his hand in expectation, already fully confident she would take it.  
  Twelve dances and five ladies later, Kaminaga sat gracefully on a padded chair, loosening the bow ever so slightly is favour of a full breath of air. The blinding lights of the dance hall seemed to float at the corners of his eyes already and that's when he knew he had better stop and recover his composure before he made a fool of himself, the alcohol and excessive dancing taking a toll on him. For a while the young man allowed the chirpy jazz tones distract him. Before a full minute was over, Tazaki approached and without so much as asking simply took the liberty of sitting by his friend's side.  
  “A widow?” The magician inquired with an amused expression on his face. “Past her sixties?” His smile broadened as the sharp eyed man stressed the topic “Another one?”  
  “Let the man be, he is sensible to other people's pain, I am sure there is a plausible explanation to our brother's geriatric preferences, let us not judge him!” Amari made no ceremony either as he pulled a chair for himself and joined them with a champagne flute in hand. "I have noticed something they all have in common though."  
  "Not looking to buy." Both declared at the same time, Tazaki bowing his head and Amari raising his glass in commemoration as Kaminaga finally joined the mood and laughed softly.  
  "You know friend, you WILL run into a situation, if this tendency confirms and there is ever the need for a bit of healthy seduction... the natural young type, you see..." Amari faked a concerned look as he crossed his legs and looked around.  
  "He is right and I don't say this often..." Tazaki started only to be promptly interrupted by Amari.  
  "You don't say it enough..." Amari almost giggled at his own perfect tempo.  
  "However... there is nothing wrong in indulging every now and then, if those are your particular preferences..." Tazaki left the sentence open as he grabbed tow flutes, handing one over to Kaminaga  
  "You are both morons! I've come here to practice my dance skills so I naturally picked the sort of follows that would give me what I need as a lead. Had I felt the need for some good time with a young lady I might have headed to Hanabishi."  
  "And THAT is exactly what you're gonna tell Yuuki when you fail to seduce the necessary target and have to be dismissed." Amari dead-panned  
  "Can one really speak of follow-lead dynamics in Swing dance?" Tazaki asked, sparing a glance at his half empty flute.  
  "How much have you had to drink, seriously?" Kaminaga gently removed the glass from his friend's hand in an attempt to bring a more sober flavour to the discussion.  
  "Oh, I am forbidden from drinking, you two are the ones who should be showing some restraint, I swear, if you both end up drunk I'll abandon you here, empty your wallets and go home on my own, you won't remember a thing in the morning either way!" Tazaki sounded bitter and a bit anxious, almost as if he had any intel to back up his scenario.  
  "Where were we?" Amari asked."AH, yes, aged ladies who don't wish for a suitor, Kaminaga, dear brother, you were saying?"  
  "Why did I come here at all, I should have stayed home with Miyoshi and Odagiri... where's everyone else?" Sounding somewhat desperate to get rid of that topic Kaminaga looked around.  
  "Fukumoto is over there, by the band, with the lady in blue. Jitsui and Hatano went missing about an hour ago." Tazaki said between sips.  
  They all watched in silence as Fukumoto finished his dance with a humble sort of elegance. The man briefly turned to the group and bowed discreetly before leaving the party, calling it a night.  
  "Well, I have much to practice before the night is over and the daughter of the French ambassador just arrived, if you boys don't mind." Amari left them, barely putting down his drink before he waltzed over to the lady.  
  "I could use some French practice myself." Tazaki added calmly.  
  "Ne t'inquiète pas, mon coeur, je suis là pour toi."* Kaminaga's voice dropped and octave as he murmured.  
  "Petit coquin..."** The other smiled and leaned back.  
  They talked until the clock hit the two in the morning, when all three remaining spies gathered at the entrance. As they made their way to the main door to any outsider they looked a trio of gentlemen freshly out of home ready for an evening of party, despite the hour. Among each other, although they wouldn't voice it out, there was a small competition going to see who would break character first before they reached home. As Amari and Tazaki walked through the door Kaminaga gave one last glance at the flowers on display and smiled fondly despite himself as he pulled a particularly red and vivacious one, and leaned it against his lips quickening his pace to meet the others outside. They talked and smiled, encouraged by the alcohol and the good music they had just experienced.  
  "Nice touch, if anyone asks why you're grinning like an idiot you can always say you're in love!" Amari exclaimed, perhaps a bit louder then he should have.  
  "While in reality we all know you're just drunk..." Tazaki murmured, lighting a cigarette and holding the case open as the other two pulled one each.  
  "You aren't the epitome of sobriety either, dear friend!" Pulling in one long drag, Kaminaga twirled the smoke around his tongue before he softly blew it out in a thin mist. He twirled the flower between the thumb and index finger, admiring how the petals merged in one bright red disk.  
  They all kept walking, discussing trivialities until they reached the doorstep. Amari unlocked the door and was the first to enter, by then already lighting his second cigarette, trying to distract himself from how bad his feet ached.  
  "Good night gentlemen, lets do this again sometime!" He turned to his colleagues, winked and bowed, going so far as to remove his hat, and turned away towards the long corridor, probably taking the direction of the dormitory.  
  "Likewise, goodnight, see you tomorrow." Tazaki's voice was dangerously low, the man sounded as if he were about to fall asleep any second and Kaminaga couldn't help but notice that the cigarette was gone, not even the but was left, one was left to wonder what had been made of it.  
  The last of the three men entered the house, shoulders hunching in exhaustion, longing for nothing more then to kick off his shoes and drop dead on bed, suit and all. For a second the hypothesis did dance in his mind and he imagined what vision that would provide his colleagues when they woke up in a couple of hours, particularly Sakuma-san... he stopped a few steps shy of the cafeteria as he heard low humming... Monti's Csárdás... the voice was soft, clearly a bit blemished by the sore throat... yet the notes themselves flowed naturally in a colour that fell somewhere between contralto and mezzo soprano. As he entered the room he saw only Miyoshi sitting there, on a lonely chair near one of the windows. A lit lamp and a mug of still warm tea at his side, and an open book in his hand. On closer inspection the pages had 'Анна Каренина'# printed on the top of each. Kaminaga approached, placed the flower he had been holding on the open pages and proceeded to gently massage the back of the other's neck, the humming ceased.  
  "Tolstoy at this hour?" He asked casually while feeling all the tension drain from the shorter man's neck.  
  "That was some partying... it's almost three..." Ignoring the other's question, Miyoshi looked over the shoulder, his tone betrayed nothing but slight amusement, probably imagining how hard it would be for his friends to wake up in some hours.  
  "That's my line, you should be in bed, your skin feels warm." Kaminaga tried not to sound too annoyed.  
  "I was waiting for you." For a few seconds silence fell between them. Until Miyoshi closed his book with the flower still inside, stood up and kept talking. "I'd be silent getting in bed if I were you. You wouldn't want to wake Sakuma-san up and have him cause a riot." He spoke gently with a soft smile on his lips.  
  "Well, if that's the case maybe I shouldn't sleep in my own bed tonight." The taller man felt confident as he followed his colleague.  
  Miyoshi's smile broadened and he led the way through the dark corridor.

\---//---

* - "Don't worry, my heart, I am here for you."  
**- "Little rascal..."  
# - 'Anna Karenina' a book by Leo Tolstoy

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: A bit of Historical placement that is completely useless. I wanted to include carnations... but those are the flower of choice for mother's day over there. In modern Japan, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May (since 1949). Before it used to commemorated on March 6, the birthday of Empress Kōjun (mother of Emperor Akihito), but Wiki says since 1937 it's been in May so it would seem like the most common time to use carnations as decoration... there is no meaning attached to it in this fic though, I wanted to use that flower because for me it kind of looks like Kaminaga. In the end I also went with that date because it was the time at which it might had been more plausible for the carnation to be in use (in Japan and flowers arrangements etc XP).


End file.
